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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2003 60(5):1103-1113; doi:10.1016/S1054-3139(03)00122-X
© 2003 by ICES/CIEM International Council for the Exploration of the Sea/Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer
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The influence of pre-recruitment growth on subsequent growth and age at first spawning in Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus L.)

Deirdre Brophy* and Bret S Danilowicz

Department of Zoology, University College Dublin Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

*Correspondence to D. Brophy, Commercial Fisheries Research Group, Department of Life Sciences, Galway–Mayo Institute of Technology, Dublin Road, Galway, Ireland; tel: +353 91 742484. e-mail: deirdre.brophy{at}gmit.ie.

Calculation of the spawning stock biomass for fisheries management requires information on the numbers or proportions of fish in each age- or length-group that are mature each year. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between growth and age of first reproduction in herring stocks around Ireland. Measurements of otolith size at the onset of the first annulus (O1) were used to compare growth during the first year of life between 1-, 2-, and 3-group spawning herring collected from spawning grounds in the Celtic Sea over a period of 3 years. The 1-group spawning fish had significantly greater mean O1 measurements, and hence showed faster growth on average during the first year of life than 2- or 3-group spawning fish. Fish that exhibited slow growth during the first year were absent from the adult spawning population at age 1, but occurred at similar levels in the samples of 2- and 3-group spawning fish. Regression of O1 radius on fish length at capture showed that growth during the first year of life had a small but significant effect on subsequent growth up to age 3. The relationship between pre-recruitment growth and subsequent growth and age at first spawning has implications for recruitment patterns of juveniles from different nursery areas and for the lifetime fecundity of population components with differential growth.

Keywords: herring, otolith, growth rates, maturation, reproduction

Received 19 September 2002; accepted 16 April 2003.


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